Effectively dissipating the heat produced by the operation of electronic components is an important concern in optimizing the performance of the circuitry in which those components are used. In addition to optimizing performance, effective heat dissipation also helps to prolong the useful life of those components. Heat dissipation is particularly important in the case of high power electronic components which may produce three watts per square centimeter or more. Some exotic methods of cooling high power electronic components, such as forced liquid cooling of heat sinks attached to those components, have been proposed, but these methods are not desirable because they are costly to implement and maintain. Simple air cooling techniques have been avoided because of the inadequate performance of heat sinks and coolant delivery systems developed to date and because of a general perception that air cooing is not up to the task of adequately dissipating the heat produced by today's high power electronic components.
There has been some work involving the use of air cooled narrow channel and microchannel heat sinks to cool electronic components. For example, Goldberg, "Narrow Channel Forced Air Heat Sink," IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology, Vol. CHMT-7, No. 1, March 1984, pp. 154-159 refers to confined channel heat sinks in which channel spacing and width were either 0.0127 cm., 0.0254 cm. or 0.0635 cm. Air was used as the cooling fluid and it was ducted directly to the heat sink. The heat sink of Goldberg was said to have achieved thermal impedances of 3.4.degree. to 5.9.degree. C. per watt.
Hilbert et al., "High Performance Micro Channel Air Cooling," Proceedings of the Sixth Annual IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, pp. 108-113, 1990, refers to an array of microchannel finned heat sinks in which air was specially ducted to the top of each heat sink. The heat sinks were said to have achieved thermal impedances in the range of 1.6.degree. to 2.1.degree. C. per watt.
Both Goldberg and Hilbert do not deal with heat sinks having an optimum configuration which maximizes their heat dissipation capability. In addition, both Goldberg and Hilbert refer to unusually shaped heat sinks which are difficult and expensive to manufacture. Also, Goldberg and Hilbert achieve the performance they achieve with coolant delivery systems which are non-standard in most electronic systems. Most electronic systems either push or pull air flow across electronic components which are situated on flat circuit boards which are disposed in a parallel configuration in bays or racks in a cabinet. There is a fan shelf placed at the top or bottom of the system to force air into the cabinet and through the spaces between the parallel circuit cards. The flow impingement techniques of Goldberg and Hilbert cannot be used with, or readily adapted to, these kinds of cooling arrangements.
Efforts such as those of Goldberg and Hilbert, therefore, really have not satisfied a long felt need to provide a cooling system for electronic components which is able to most effectively dissipate the heat generated by today's high power electronic components using simple air cooling technology without drastic change of the mechanical arrangement of the components.